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Swiss banks hold third highest amount of funds in world: report
GENEVA, Jan 13, 2007 (AFP) – Switzerland is the world’s third largest asset manager with over 6,900 billion Swiss francs (5,532 billion dollars, 4,280 billion euros) deposited in the country’s bank accounts, the Swiss Bankers Association said on Saturday Switzerland has a nine percent share of the global market, just below the United Kingdom with […]
Scotland Yard for further tests in Sri Lanka assassination probe
Jan 13, 2007 (AFP) – British detectives have removed “exhibits” for forensic tests to try to identify the assassins of a Sri Lankan Tamil legislator, the British High Commission (embassy) here said Saturday. A team from Scotland Yard spent 10 days in Sri Lanka advising local police probing the killing two months ago of legislator […]
Sri Lanka deploys troops as floods kill 16
Jan 13, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s military has been called out to help relief operations in the island’s flood-hit regions where at least 16 people have been killed, the National Disaster Management Centre said Saturday. Military helicopters were deployed to send food for marooned people in the central and and southern regions, which were […]
Tight and Loose
January 12, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank has allowed finance companies to form subsidiaries, raised single borrower limits, but tightened provisioning requirements, the regulator said. A 40 percent limit on the acquisition of other companies has been relaxed, provided approval is gained from the Monetary Board, the Central Bank. “What this means is […]
Old Hands
SINGAPORE, Jan 12, 2007 (AFP) – Workers are relying on 19th century technology to fix a very 21st century problem — disruption of the Internet traffic that tech-savvy Asia relies on. Crewmen on boats south of Taiwan are dragging the seabed with grappling hooks at the end of long ropes to recover fibre optic cables […]
Flash floods kill 14 in Sri Lanka
Jan 12, 2007 (AFP) – At least 14 people were killed and another 61,000 made homeless in south and central Sri Lanka Friday in flash floods caused by heavy monsoon rains, relief officials said. The National Disaster Management Centre said two people were buried alive in a mudslide at Walapane while another was killed in […]
‘s top diplomat
Jan 12, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Friday appointed a former United Nations official as the country’s top official to lead the ministry of foreign affairs. Palitha Kohona, 58, currently the head of the government’s office coordinating with peace broker Norway, was appointed Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with […]
Sri Lanka activates mass detention centre amid arrests
Jan 12, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka has reactivated a mass detention centre to hold people rounded up during recent arrests of suspects allegedly linked to terrorism, police said Friday. A first batch of 60 people detained at police stations in Colombo will be sent Friday to the centre in Boossa, around 100 kilometres (60 […]
Commandos take eight Tiger bases in Sri Lanka
Jan 12, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan commandos have taken at least eight bases used by Tamil Tiger guerrillas to launch attacks in the country’s east following an operation lasting several days, military officials said Friday. The elite Special Task Force commandos took the eighth base in the district of Ampara early Friday after a […]
‘s human rights: report
NEW DELHI, Jan 12, 2007 (AFP) – War-torn Sri Lanka and politically unstable Bangladesh suffered worsening human rights violations in 2006 while other parts of the subcontinent saw scant progress, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.In its annual report, the New York-based watchdog said Bangladesh’s “already poor human rights record worsened, as security forces continued to […]